In today's telephony and communication networks, inter-carrier switches or networks provide connections between various networks corresponding to various communications carriers. Long distance termination providers, for example, may utilize an inter-carrier switch to provide connections between carriers corresponding to calling parties and various other interconnected carriers corresponding to called parties. In such cases, the inter-carrier network connects to multiple exchanges for completing calls. These exchanges may allow the inter-carrier network to employ various termination routes, for example, based on cost and/or other criteria.
Vendors operating the multiple exchanges connected to an inter-carrier network may assess a variety of surcharges based on certain performance metrics associated with the inter-carrier network. Often, vendors operating exchanges charge inter-carrier networks fees based on a number or percentage of “short” or “short-duration” calls (i.e., calls lasting for a time less than a certain threshold), or based on a number or percentage of calls to unallocated, or otherwise invalid, phone numbers, that have been routed to the exchanges from the inter-carrier network. As such, the routing of many short calls and/or the routing of many calls to unallocated numbers via an inter-carrier network can be very costly.
Further, certain inter-carrier networks or portions of an inter-carrier network may be optimized for certain types of traffic. Certain portions of an inter-carrier network can utilize components (e.g., soft switches, call routers, etc.) and connections to exchanges that are optimized for or devoted to “conversational” traffic, such as calls between two human beings. Other portions of the inter-carrier network can utilize components and connections to exchanges that are optimized for or devoted to automated dialer traffic. However, it is difficult for an operator of an inter-carrier network to accurately segment customers into such categories and/or enforce policies related to such differences in call traffic, as connecting carriers may misrepresent or be unaware of the actual characteristics of the traffic traversing corresponding exchanges.
Additionally, as typical inter-carrier networks are connected to a variety of carrier exchanges with varying performances, some operators of inter-carrier networks may attempt to route calls based on the performance quality of candidate terminating carrier exchanges. Yet, determining up-to-date, real-time or near real-time performance characteristics of carrier exchanges may be challenging. Often, adjustments to the routing of traffic from an inter-carrier network to a selected exchange are based on average or historical values of metrics that are obtained manually over relatively lengthy periods of time, so that the inter-carrier network is not able to accommodate intermittent and/or shorter duration issues, such as looping or temporary decreases in capacity.